In Lisa D’Amour’s Detroit, Woolly Mammoth faced overlapping challenges to bring the show together. The play calls for a set in which two houses face each other across a shared back yard: One household well-maintained, but perched precariously on the brink of ruin, and another that has already begun a descent into decay.

In addition to two fully-realized façades, complete with lawn furniture and a gas grill, the creative team at Woolly opted to erect a new audience section on what is normally their stage: So while the two houses face off throughout D’Amour’s funny, unsettling play, the audience look past the action on stage and see more of themselves staring back at them.

Set designer Tom Kamm has embraced the themes of neighbors and the current tensions of economic uncertainty, with endless details throughout the design that hint at chaos and destruction creeping in through every crack.

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About Ryan Maxwell

Ryan Maxwell is a freelance theatre director and photographer based in Washington, DC. He has directed for the Inkwell, the Source Festival, the Kennedy Center’s Page to Stage Festival, Adventure Theatre MTC, Young Playwrights’ Theatre, and Flying V. Before landing in DC, Ryan Maxwell spent two years as Artistic Associate at Commonwealth Shakespeare Company in Boston. His photography has been featured in shows with the EMP Collective, the Fridge DC, FotoDC, DCist Exposed, and InstantDC. Ryan is a proud member of Young Playwrights’ Theater’s company of artists, Flying V Theatre, InstantDC, and PinkySwear Production’s associates program. He will be doing photo coverage for DCTS.